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Highlighting the economic data this week -- May 7-11 -- are the March trade-balance figures to be released Thursday. Economists expect the U.S. trade deficit to widen after its sharp narrowing in February.

European Union finance ministers failed Thursday to hammer out new global banking regulations, highlighting the resistance regulators on both sides of the Atlantic face as they push for tougher banking rules to ensure banks won't spark another great recession, as they did in 2008.

Now approaching three months after ?Mass Effect 3? was officially released, it seems concerns about the less-than-satisfying ending have begun to quiet down. Fans have made their opinion known to developer BioWare through various movements, such as the delivery of over 400 cupcakes to the office located in Edmonton, Alberta.

Activists aligned with the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York ended a day of mass street protest Tuesday by being chased out of a public plaza in Lower Manhattan by the police, in an anti-climactic conclusion to what otherwise seemed to have been a successful day for the visibility of their cause.

After passing heart tests conducted at The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., Gregg Allman will begin his postponed book tour, followed by a summer tour with the Allman Brothers Band

Thousands of agitated protestors took to the streets banging drums, waving flags and placards on May Day, popularly known as Labor Day, all over the world on Tuesday.

In spite of organizers providing free coffee and bagels, planned May Day demonstrations across New York convened by the loosely organized movement against social and economic inequality known as Occupy Wall Street got off to a wet, slow, sleepy start. Much like the day itself, however, the street actions began warming up into the late afternoon and, by lunchtime, seemed to be close to going into full swing.

Bank of America Corp., the second-largest U.S. bank by assets, will dismiss about 2,000 employees, many of whom earn high salaries, in its investment banking, commercial banking and non-U.S. wealth-management units, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Investors might be in for another week of gloomy economic news. The U.S. nonfarm payrolls report, Institute for Supply Management data, and the European Central Bank's monthly policy meeting are key items on the economic calendar from April 30 to May 4.

Starbucks Corporation (Nasdaq: SBUX), the world's largest coffee shop chain, said Thursday its fiscal second-quarter profit jumped 18.5 percent on rising sales at stores open at least one year and higher efficiency.

Starbucks Corp. is expected to report a higher second quarter profit as the company's expansion efforts and growing line of products, as well as the diminishing cost of coffee, continue to add revenue sources for the company.

A New York judge on Tuesday rejected an effort by AIG Inc (AIG.N) and other objectors to Bank of America Corp's (BAC.N) proposed $8.5 billion mortgage bond settlement to convert the case to a proceeding that may have widened its scope.

Police in riot gear arrested two dozen people on Tuesday as protesters with a huge inflated rat sought to disrupt a Wells Fargo & Co annual shareholder meeting to express anger over foreclosures, executive compensation and corporate taxes.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT), the world's largest maker of construction and mining equipment, is expected to report strong first-quarter profit on mining company demands and consumers' need to replace aging equipment.

Federal Reserve officials are expected to be in wait-and-see mode on extra stimulus at the April Federal Open Market Committee meeting this week, as little has changed since the March meeting to warrant policy changes, economists say.

Banco Santander SA, Spain's biggest bank and the euro zone's largest bank by market value, is preparing to sell part of its rapidly-expanding Mexican operations via an initial public offering, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

AstraZeneca has agreed to buy U.S. company Ardea Biosciences for $1.26 billion, giving it a new gout drug to bolster its weak pipeline in a deal that feeds a wave of M&A in the biotechnology sector.

Nestle SA, the world's largest food group, said Monday that it has agreed to acquire children's food maker Pfizer Nutrition for $11.85 billion.

Bank of America Corp directors, who were sued by shareholders for allegedly paying too much for Merrill Lynch & Co in 2008, must defend a proposed $20 million settlement of the claims in federal court in New York, court papers show.

Bill Ackman and Sam Zell spoke Thursday at the NYU Shack Institute's annual REIT conference.

The Federal Open Market Committee meeting on April 24-25, Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke's comments during the post-meeting press conference, and an advance reading on U.S. gross domestic product in the first quarter will dominate the economic calendar next week.

Shares of security software specialist Proofpoint (Nasdaq: PFPT) jumped as much as 31 percent in the first few minutes of trading after their initial public offering.

Asian shares slipped Friday as disappointing U.S. economic data stirred doubts about the strength of recovery, while the yen weakened after the Bank of Japan flagged the prospect of further monetary easing to support the struggling economy.

Private equity firm CVC Capital Partners is nearing a deal to buy restructuring and consulting firm AlixPartners for more than $1 billion, according to several people familiar with the matter.

Splunk (Nasdaq: SPLK), which developed software to permit enterprise analysis of so-called “Big Data,” saw its shares skyrocket nearly 90 percent in its initial public offering.

Bank of America Corp posted a better-than-expected first-quarter earnings on Thursday as the No. 2 U.S. bank set aside less money for loan losses and capital markets activity rebounded.

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC), the second largest U.S. bank by assets, said its first-quarter earnings fell 68 percent due to a $4.8 billion accounting charge related to debt valuation.

Facebook’s $1 billion deal to acquire Instagram may have resulted in pushing the initial public offering price for the No. 1 social media network even higher.

Stocks were set to open little changed on Thursday as investors grappled with euro zone uncertainty, a raft of corporate earnings and softer-than-expected data on the domestic labor market.